Since the very beginning of Bitcoin, the true identity or identities behind "Satoshi Nakamoto" has remained a mystery.
While this may seem crazy to many individuals who are first researching Bitcoin, I believe that the choice to remain completely anonymous is extremely powerful. I wasn't ever involved when Satoshi was still active, but I have spent a lot of time reading and researching posts he made on various forums. Satoshi was always very direct in his posts, and rarely shared any political or other motivations publicly. Satoshi rarely even shared opinions in his posts, and they seemed to be strictly motivated to create the technology without connecting it to their own personal views or beliefs. While there are many different theories out there surrounding the identity or identities of Satoshi Nakomoto, I think that they chose to remain anonymous so that individuals could judge the technology for what it really was rather than judging the creator or creators.
While Satoshi was the first to put the Bitcoin network online and mine Bitcoins, they haven't moved or cashed out any of their coins. The Bitcoins that are believed to belong to accounts controlled by Satoshi have a value of over 1 Billion USD, but the individual still hasn't touched even a single Bitcoin. This validated the idea that the creator is motivated by things that are much larger than money, but this is just an inference I drew from their prior posts and actions. When we consider the fact that Bitcoin was created for the purpose of taking control of currency away from governments and giving it back to the people, it becomes very reasonable that this individual or group simply feared for the potential repercussions it have have on their personal lives. If the creator may have been involved with something that would reflect negatively on Bitcoin, it would have been much harder to gain initial support and faith in the project.
I like to think that Satoshi was motivated by the desire to provide individuals freedom more than anything else.
Satoshi could have came out anytime in the past few years and received extreme recognition and fame, but they have still made the decision to remain anonymous. While the creators or creators could come out at any point, it sure looks like they have no intentions of ever revealing their true identity. We know that the creator was very intelligent, and likely very well educated. It really wouldn't surprise me if Satoshi had an academic background, and who knows maybe the creator is simply a prominent faculty member at a major university. The original mailing list that Satoshi originally sent the Whitepaper to was composed of various professors, academics, and others in the fields of cryptography and mathematics. Satoshi wasn't known by any members of the mailing list, and it took a good while for many of them to come around to the idea.
Satoshi never shared any details about their personal life, and rarely discussed anything that wasn't directly related to Bitcoin. Satoshi was present in the development of Bitcoin for the first few years, and then simply disappeared when he thought that Bitcoin was big enough to be able to survive without him. I consider the gift that Satoshi gave to the world one of the greatest gifts of all time, and I believe that it will go down that way in history. While Bitcoin has seen technical issues over the years, Bitcoin and the technology of a blockchain database that came along with it made all of the blockchain projects that we have today possible. While the technology may have eventually been introduced if it wasn't for Bitcoin, Bitcoin and the technology that accompanied it are the reason why we are seeing so many practical blockchain solutions and use cases currently.
While Satoshi traditionally focused on discussing Bitcoin and things related to it, they definetly believed in the power and necessity of enhancing and improving individual's freedoms around the globe.
While there might be issues and hurtles that Bitcoin needs to overcome before it has a chance at mainstream adoption, the ideas and principles behind it remain to be so powerful. Cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology are so much more powerful than many people realize, and legitimately have the power to change life as we know it. There has never been another single thing in human history that holds the same power that blockchain technology does, and that is so much more important than making cryptocurrency investments and profit. The cryptocurrency market is absolutely revolutionary, and I don't think many people even in the cryptocurrency community truly appreciate that. These aren't simply trade-able tokens that allow you to make serious returns, but many hold the power to grant a new type and level of freedom to individuals like never before.
When we consider the sheer amount of corruption that exists around the globe today, the importance of granting methods for individuals to enhance their personal freedom is vital. Bitcoin has always attracted the libertarian minded individuals, and it has had a huge impact on my personal political beliefs. Instead of trying to force governments to act honorably and in the best interest of the people, Bitcoin released a method for individuals to free themselves from the risk of their government controlling, manipulating, and regulating their currency. If we take a look at what is happening in Venezuela, the government has repeatedly completely destroyed their nations currency over the past 2 decades. It is hard to actually imagine the pain that I would experience to see the money that I worked so hard to obtain turn to worthless paper because of the actions of my greedy government.
It's very easy to loose sight of the true power and potential of blockchain technology, but the fundamental thing that motivated me to continue to be involved with cryptocurrency is the desire to improve freedom and transparency for individuals around the globe. There are so many industries and solutions that could reach their true potential when built on top of blockchain technology, and that is so much more powerful than any level of profit or return on investment. While of course investing in some cryptocurrency projects will likely be very profitable in the future, the freedoms and improvements that blockchain technology could grant to individuals globally is so much more powerful than all of the money in the world.
Blockchain technology is at the forefront of giving the power and voice back to the citizens, whether the governments and institutions who control so much of our lives change or not. Instead of waiting around for the possibility that institutions will become more honorable in the future, individuals finally have the ability to not rely on the government or centralized institutions for many functions. The quality and quantity of blockchain solutions will likely only continue to grow into the future, and I believe that we will look back on this period as a time of great change and advancement for individuals around the globe.
I really hope that you enjoyed this post, and I urge you to leave any comments, input, questions, ect. in the comments below! I originally got the idea to share my opinions on Satoshi from this post here, but only used it for the original idea to share my views. Thank you all for all of your support and thanks for reading!
Bitcoin announcement on P2P foundation: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com/forum/topics/bitcoin-open-source